Stonewall 2011: The Night NY Legalized Gay Marriage

On June 24, 2011, thousands gathered outside New York City's Stonewall Inn, anxiously awaiting the New York State Senate's vote on legalizing gay marriage.

When news came that the bill had passed on a narrow 33-29 vote, the crowd erupted with joy.

Stonewall is widely considered the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement. Forty-two years ago this weekend, a brutal raid by the New York's Police Department set off a spontaneous and prolonged rebellion that lead to the establishment of annual "Gay Pride" weekends around the world, and the slow and steady march toward equal protection under the law.

As the New York Times reported (and Nick Gillespie noted on Hit & Run), the bill's approval ultimately swung on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's appeal to several libertarian-leaning investors.

"Gay marriage is really just a fight about whether the government should be allowed to regulate personal liberty," noted New York Magazine's Chadwick Matlin. "On that, libertarians side with liberals."

Produced by Anthony L. Fisher.
Running time: 2:17

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• libertarian
• LGBT
• cuomo
• liberty
• stonewall
• pride
• lesbian
• gay
• marriage
• new york city
• nyc
• out

[FatherTime89]

Anyone else here sick of the appeal to tradition fallacy? That's basically the main argument against gay marriage "we can't change the definition because it's always been that way".

[ChiotVulgaire]

Homosexuals should be allowed to enjoy the same rights and priveleges heterosexuals get when they marry, yes. BUT we cannot righteously force any church to conduct these marriages if they have objections to them. Freedom also means respecting the rights of people to disagree. Besides, there ARE churches out there who would be willing to conduct these marriages anyway, so it's not like we're barring them out completely from religious marriages, it just requires a little more looking.

[HOLEBITV]

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[felpaluche]

It must have felt liberating to the third sex.

[viletree]

@alvincay100 Ironic that your shilling for a de facto form of statism, and those are not adequate comparisons since it takes a certain set of skills and an operation to achieve a driver's license. Quit your nebulous right wing absconding, no one with half a brain believes this "weasel wording" bullshit anymore.

[alvincay100]

@viletree Since when is a "license" of any kind a "right"? Is a drivers license a "right"? No and neither is a marriage license. Quit resorting to left-wing language manipulation. No one with half a brain believes this "civil rights" bullshit anymore.

[PoliticallyErroneus]

It's funny how people will say they're "conservative libertarians" not knowing wtf libertarian actually means. If you're a fiscal conservative who also hates gay people, you're JUST a conservative, there's nothing libertarian about you other than your fiscal policy! PS Not liking war doesn't make you a conservative libertarian, traditional conservatives were and still are anti war.

[viletree]

@alvincay100 Socialism is an economic philosophy, and homosexual rights is in the arena of civil rights. You have no idea what you are talking about

[alvincay100]

@viletree Being a homosexual has nothing to do with being a socialist. Wanting your homosexual relationship to be endorsed by the state so that you can receive socialist benefits has everything to do with socialism. Get it? Now who's the retard? You.

[mrbill2600]

@viletree Sir: after a look at your YouTube account it appears that it's your life that is nonsense.

[viletree]

@alvincay100 What does homosexual behavior have to do with being a socialist? Are you retarded?

[viletree]

@mrbill2600 What do you mean by "nature", marriage is not a part of any natural order, reproduction is, ergo marriage is a social construct. Why do you people use words like "covenant" when contract takes the bullshit religious connotations out of the equation. Individuals can have children without being married, animals have offspring without being married, marriage is nonsense.